Everyone who loves shopping will not give Bangkok’s Chatuchak Weekend Market a miss. Everyone else will wonder what the fuss is all about. After a rather uncomfortable overnight train journey from Hat Yai, going to this market was the last thing that I wanted to do. I would’ve given it a miss if it wasn’t for two ladies who dragged me along.
1. Chatuchak is not necessarily the best place to shop.
Chatuchak is huge,
and you can shop for anything and everything that you can think of. It is
however, not necessarily the cheapest place to shop at. If you’re shopping for
clothes, you may be better off shopping at Platinum Fashion Mall. According to
this lady friend of mine, Platinum offers trendier, better quality clothes at
prices that can be lower than those in Chatuchak. Be prepared to haggle, politely.
2. It’s easy to get there, cheaply.
Getting there by
metered taxi or by train is convenient and affordable. But it’s cheaper to get there by public bus and
it’s not difficult at all.
Find Chatuchak Market
on Google Maps and place the mouse pointer above the bus stop / transit stop
icons closest to the market. You will find a pop up window that shows the bus lines
that service that stop.
Bus lines at JJ Mall
Bus lines at Mo Chit
BTS station
Click on the bus stop icon nearest to you and see if there’s a bus
number in the pop up window that matches the bus numbers for Chatuchak. If you’re
in Khao San Road for example, you’ll notice that buses 44, 59, 157, 503 and 509
will pass by Ratchdamnoen Klang Road, onwards to Mo Chit BTS station (for buses
44, 59, 157, 503) or JJ Mall (for bus 509). The fare is less than 30 baht
(US$0.91). I’ve personally taken bus 509 from Khao San Road and bus 59 to
return.
Bus lines 44, 59,
157, 503 and 509 servicing bus stop near Khao San Road
A word of caution
though. The information for Bangkok’s public bus in Google Maps is not always
correct. Ask the bus conductor to confirm.
3. Eat before you go to Chatuchak
Some people will
disagree with me, but I think it’s better for us to have our meal before going
to Chatuchak. To be fair, I’m only making this judgement based on one meal I
had there, which I thought was mediocre and over-priced. I did see a number of food
stalls hidden in the alleys of the market, so perhaps there is cheap food
around. For now though, I prefer to have my lunch in the Or Tor
Kor Market just opposite the street.
Rice and dishes stall
in Or Tor Kor Market. I never grow tired looking at this picture.
I also think that the
Thai iced tea (cha yen) is overpriced in Chatuchak. They’re typically sold for
between 35 and 40 baht per cup. Most people may not mind paying for it, but I
did find one cha yen stall in the
market where a medium-sized cup is sold for 25 baht. See the blue dot in the map
below for the location.
The 25-baht cha yen
stall is located in an alley that runs parallel to Kamphaeng Phet Road.
The 25-baht cha yen
stall.
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